Two Months Later.

“Say that one more time, please?”  Adah James sat on the exam table of her doctor’s office with her jaw near the floor.

“You’re pregnant.”  The doctor gave her a sympathetic smile, “I can’t tell how far along you are until you have an ultra sound.  I’m taking it that this wasn’t planned?”

“Uh, no.  No, not at all.”  She sat back, straining her mind to remember when and how she’d gotten herself into this mess.  Well, she new how, but she really wasn’t sure about the who.  She didn’t have too exciting of a love life, and except for that one random encounter at the club…. “Fuck.”

“Excuse me?”  The doctor spun, giving the girl a strange look.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to say that out loud.”  Adah blushed, her thoughts racing.  She knew exactly when this immaculate conception took place, and she was pretty damn sure of who the father was, too. 

“Well, Adah, I can schedule an ultra sound for you later today, if you’d like.”  She scribbled on her clip board as Adah thought it over.

“I’m starting a new job this afternoon, do you think there’s any chance you could make it earlier?” 

“I’ll see what I can do.”  She ripped a piece of paper off of her clip board and handed it over. “This is your prescription for pre-natal vitamins, and I’d like to schedule another appointment with you in a week or so to discuss all of this.  I can give you the number of a gynecologist, too, if you’d like.”

“Yeah, yeah that’d be great.”  Her mind was scattered and she couldn’t seem to catch her breath.

Pregnant.  Pregnant?  How could this have happened?  She was twenty-five, single, and managing her rent by taking care of other people’s dogs.  Could she really afford to have a baby?  She was just starting to figure out how to take care of herself, she really wasn’t sure that being a single mother was something she could handle. 

And on top of that, she was sure that Justin Timberlake was the father to this baby. 

It sounded so random and outlandish, but it was true.  She hadn’t been in a relationship in over a year, and she’d only had sex that one night that she and Justin hooked up.  On a whim, she’d gone out to a club and ran into some friends that managed to get into VIP.  The drinks were flowing, the music was loud, and before Adah knew what was going on she was grinding up against Justin Timberlake and inviting him back to her place.  One freak accident of a night and amazing sex and now she was pregnant.  At least the sex was good.

“Adah?” The doctor’s voice broke through Adah’s hazy thoughts.  “You have an appointment at the gynecologists down stairs for an ultra sound in twenty minutes.  Is that Ok?”

“Perfect.  Thank you.”

The doctor left and Adah grabbed her clothing.  She placed a hand on her stomach, barely able to imagine that there was a baby in there.  What the hell was she going to do?  She had another new client to meet tonight for a new job, and all she could focus on was the fact that she was pregnant.

~*~

Adah slowly rolled her car through the gates, staring up at the mansion in front of her.  Her ultra sound had confirmed in her mind what she already knew.  Her baby was conceived eight weeks ago, or the night that she’d managed to bed Hollywood’s hottest bachelor.

Shaking her head, she attempted to clear her thoughts.  She had a new client to deal with and she didn’t want to be a space cadet.  It wouldn’t look good if she could barely keep her thoughts straight and she really needed this job.

Adah had started training dogs a couple of years ago.  She’d had two unruly German Shepherds of her own and had a terrible time trying to handle them.  The trainer that she’d hired to help her taught her a lot about handling the animals, so she took a couple of short training classes and figured it’d be a great way to make some money while she attempted to figure out what she wanted to do with her life.

So, here she was, driving up to another house on her way to taking care of someone else’s dogs.  She really needed to find a new job for the baby…oh God, she was having a baby.

Adah parked the car, taking a minute to collect her thoughts.  She could do this, she could get life under control and handle this job and worry about the baby later.

It took a couple of knocks on the door before someone answered.  Unfortunately for Adah, she wasn’t expecting the face that greeted her when the door opened.  Fate must have been laughing at her expense today.  Someone up there was pulling strings and playing games and Adah was the pawn.  Just wonderful.  She did her best to plaster on a smile as the man in front of her spoke.

“Can I help you?”  He looked different in the day light.  His face was scruffier than it had been that night.

“Uhm…I’m looking for…Rachel?”  Adah was slightly confused because she was sure she’d talked to a woman about training dogs, and nothing had been said about Justin Timberlake.  It was probably Justin’s girlfriend that she talked to.  Wonderful, she thought, just what I need.

“Do I know you?”  He leaned against the door frame, not making any movements to ask her into the house.  His eyes traveled the length of her and she almost put her hands over her stomach as if to hide.  He had a contemplative look on his face, questioning where he knew this girl from.

“Uhm…I’m Adah.”  She put her hand out and he took it tentatively.

“Justin, who’s at the door?”  A brunette poked her head out from behind Justin and Adah was sure that she was meeting the girlfriend of the man whose baby she was carrying.  What drama.  She must have done something terribly wrong in a past life and now she was paying for it.

“Rach, this is Adah, she’s looking for you.”

“Oh! Adah!”  The door was pushed open even farther and Adah was ushered into the house.  “Justin, this is the dog trainer I was telling you I hired.”

“Oh, right.  I remember that.”  They walked into the living room of the house and out through a set of French doors.  Adah spotted two boxers romping around in the spacious back yard.  “Have we met before? You seem really familiar to me.”  The look was on his face again and Adah mentally battled with herself over telling him or not.

“Uhm…”  She was being rather articulate today, obviously.  He probably thought she was some psycho coming over to peep at a celebrity and not the actual dog trainer.  Her mind was completely wandering.

“You probably saw her on ET or something.  She trained Ellen Degeneres’ dog.”  Rachel was busy calling the two animals over to notice Adah’s obvious discomfort.  Justin was too busy trying to remember how he knew this girl.

“I’m going to go grab some coffee, do you want anything?”  He asked, leaving when Adah shook her head no.

A moment later he returned with a mug of coffee and Adah almost doubled over with nausea when she caught the scent of the French vanilla drink.  She clutched her hand over her mouth, trying to quell the churning of her stomach.

“Are you OK?”  Rachel caught onto the green look that had tinged Adah’s face.  “The bathroom’s just inside, first door on the right.”

Barely acknowledging Rachel, Adah rushed inside and made it to the bathroom just in time.  She had thought that morning sickness had left her alone, but the sudden smell of that coffee had taken her by surprise and suddenly she couldn’t keep her breakfast down.  She really was pregnant. 

After a moment or two more of dry-heaving, Adah rinsed her mouth and splashed her face with cold water.  She couldn’t do this.  She couldn’t carry this baby, especially since it was Justin’s and it suddenly seemed that she was working for Justin.  How was she supposed to tell him?  How was she supposed to be around him every day for the next couple months and keep this huge secret?  He wouldn’t believe it was his baby.  He didn’t even remember the night they’d slept together.

Adah felt the familiar prickle stinging her eyes and she couldn’t help the tears that started to form.  This was probably the day from hell, and it should’ve been an exciting moment in her life.

There was a knock on the bathroom door and Rachel’s voice came floating in through the wood.  “Are you all right in here?”

Adah took a deep breath and opened the door to pass a sheepish smile to the brunette.  “Yeah, I think so.”

“How far along are you?”  The question was seemingly innocent, but Adah was taken totally aback.

“I’m sorry?”

“You’re pregnant right?”  She glanced down at Adah’s stomach and Adah placed her hand over it protectively.  “I know that look, sweetheart.  A lot of my friends have been pregnant recently and there’s no questioning that look.  It was the coffee, wasn’t it?”

Adah meekly nodded her head.  “I’m sorry, if you’d like to find another dog trainer, I understand.”

“I don’t care that you’re pregnant.  If it’s not going to affect your work, then it doesn’t matter to me.”  Rachel led Adah back out into the kitchen and handed her a glass of ginger ale.  Justin was no where to be found, and for that Adah was thankful.  Of all the gin joints in all the world…

“So, how long have you been with Justin?”  Small talk was always uncomfortable, but silences were even worse.

“I took over for Trace a couple of years ago when they first started their Rast.”  Adah gave the girl a strange look, not understanding what she meant.

“Trace?”  That was a strange name for a female, and what did she mean, took over?

“Yeah, Justin’s best friend.”  Rachel paused, staring at Adah for a second before laughing.  “Don’t follow Justin’s career much, do you?”

“Oh, well I like his music.  But no, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”  She was ashamed to admit it.  She felt like she should at least know what Rachel was talking about, but following tabloids was not one of her past times.  She could sing along to most of Justin’s songs, and she even owned both of his albums, but past the movies and music, she really didn’t know much about him.

“Well, Trace is Justin’s best friend.  You’ll probably get to meet him at some point, but he’s in New York right now working on their clothing line.  I’m his personal assistant as well as his cousin.”  Oh, so she’s not the girlfriend.  Somehow, Adah still didn’t feel better about all of this.

“Well that helps a little.”  Adah sipped at the ginger ale again, placing a hand softly over her stomach.  “I’m sorry about earlier.  I just found out I was pregnant this morning.  It’s all still sinking in, I guess.”

“Your boyfriend must be excited.”  The male voice that spoke from behind her startled Adah and she jumped a little in her chair.

“Oh, hi, Justin. I didn’t know you were there.”  So, he knew she was pregnant.  Now all he needed to know was that the baby was his.  Right, like it was that easy.

“Sorry to intrude.  I just heard that you were expecting, though, congratulations.  Have you told your boyfriend yet?”  He was giving her a strange look, but Adah just assumed that it was because she had puked in his bathroom.

“Oh, I don’t have a boyfriend.  This, ah, came as a surprise.”  She could feel her cheeks burning with a small form of shame.  He was going to figure it out, she knew it.  He was going to suddenly remember that they’d slept together and he was going to discover that it was his baby and then all hell would break loose.

“Do you know who the father is?”  Adah heard Rachel gasp at the man’s question.

“Justin!”  She hissed, “That’s not a really appropriate question to ask someone you don’t really know.”

Thankfully, Justin looked apologetic for his outburst.  “Sorry, Amy.  I didn’t mean to insinuate anything about you.”

“It’s Adah.” She mumbled.

“What?”

“My name, it’s Adah.  But it’s OK.  I guess it was a natural question to ask.  And yes, I know who the father is.  There’s really only one person it could be.”  She didn’t go any further, afraid that she would give herself away if she said much more.

This was like an episode of the Twilight Zone, or something.

She wished she could go back to sleep and wake up and start this morning all over again.  She couldn’t believe that in the span of a few hours she’d discovered that she was carrying Justin Timberlake’s illegitimate child and then found out she was working for the man.  Things were only going to get bad, she could feel it.

“Will it be any trouble to still train my dogs?  I’m headed off on tour in a couple of months and I really need them to behave because I’m taking them with me.  Rachel said you’re the best.”

Adah blushed at the compliment.  “Well thanks.  I think I should be fine.  It won’t take more than 6 weeks or so, so the dogs should be all set by the time you leave for your tour.  I don’t think my pregnancy will get in the way, either.  I understand if you want to find someone else, though.”  She twisted her fingers together, looking anywhere but at the man standing next to her.

“No, I don’t need another trainer.”  He shrugged his shoulders toward the door, “you should probably meet the dogs, then.”  He led her back outside to the yard and called the two romping animals over to them.  He was acting a little strange, and he could tell that he was making Adah uncomfortable, but he was pretty wary of letting someone new into his house.  It didn’t help matters that he was sure he knew this girl from some place but he couldn’t remember where.

“This is Buckley, and this is Brennan.”  He scratched them both behind the ears as the dogs grinned up at him, their tongues lolling out of their mouths.

Adah stood off to the side, watching Justin interact with the two dogs.  “What is it you’d like me to do with them?”

“I just need them to listen better.  They’re not bad dogs, but they also have this yard to run around in all the time and I’m afraid that once we get on tour they won’t be as well behaved.”

“Okay, I can do that.”  She crouched down, clicking her tongue on the roof of her mouth in a small sound.  The dogs’ ears perked and they instantly headed in her direction.  “Hey there.”  She ran her hands over both their heads and grinned as she got a tongue in the face.

Justin was glad to see that she wasn’t intimidated by his dogs, and she seemed to have pretty good control over them and she’d barely done anything yet.  He had been extremely wary when Rachel mentioned that the dog trainer she found was a woman and her small size hadn’t done much to quell his concerns, but she seemed to know what she was doing.  He just hoped that she was right and that her pregnancy wouldn’t cause any problems.  He didn’t know why, but he had a bad feeling about the whole thing.

Of course, having a pregnant woman in his house was something he certainly never expected.  He was just glad it wasn’t his.  That’s the last thing he needed at the moment.

“If you want, we can get started today.”  Adah startled Justin out of his thoughts and he shook his head slightly before looking down at her questioningly.  “Here.”  She handed him a small, metal device and a bag of small dog treats.  “This is called a clicker.  You’re supposed to use it instead of saying ‘good dog.’  It’s a faster response and they’ll start to learn that it means they’ve done something right.  Like this.”

Justin watched as she called the dogs over and when they came to her she clicked the device in her hands and handed them both a treat.  She then asked them to sit, and she clicked the device again.

“Don’t give them treats every time, because then they’ll associate the sound with a bone and that’s not what you want.  You want to use this so they understand when they’re doing what you want and you don’t have to keep praising them out loud.”

She had Justin try it, using the clicker every time the dogs did what he asked of them.  It seemed fairly simple to him and he was really wondering why they had to pay someone to tell him these things, but he also knew that he would never have the time to look all this stuff up on his own.  She seemed to know how to handle his two beasts and if they’d listen better to him after all of this it was well worth it.

“I think that’s all we’ll do for today.  Try and spend some time with them using the clicker.  Don’t be afraid of giving them cookies, just don’t do it too often.  I’ll come back over tomorrow and we can start some leash training.”

Rachel led Adah back through the house and to the front as Justin watched her leave.  He knew that he’d met this girl before and he was pretty sure she knew it too.  He just couldn’t remember where.  He’d figure it out, though.  He knew he would.

“What do you think?”  Rachel was back out in the yard, using another clicker that Adah had left with her to get the dogs to sit and lie down.

“I think I know her.”  Justin saw Rachel roll her eyes.  “What?”

“You say that about a lot of beautiful women.”  She gave Buckley a pat on the back before sending him across the yard after a tennis ball.  “I was asking about the training.”

“Oh, well, she seems to have a handle on things.  I think it’ll work out.”

Rachel watched her cousin for a moment.  “You really think you know her?”  She twirled the clicker around her finger, waiting.

He nodded his head. “I’m almost sure of it.  She just seems really familiar to me but I can’t figure out where I know her from.”

“Trace will probably know.  He should be home in a couple of weeks, he can tell you then.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.”  He shrugged his shoulders, knowing that it was going to bother him until he could figure it out.  He supposed that he would have a lot more chances to stare at her and try and attach a memory to the face.  She was going to be at his house twice a week for the next six weeks.

He would definitely figure this all out by then.